Gas pipeline woes halt National Grid hookups on Cape

Residents of eight Cape Cod towns will have to wait years before new natural gas lines can be installed after National Grid instituted a moratorium on new hookups.

The company will not install any new gas connections for five to seven years after the Department of Public Utilities and National Grid found potentially faulty welds — some almost 60 years old — in a 21-mile pipeline on the Cape, forcing­ National Grid to lower the pressure in the transmission line, which cut the amount of gas it can carry.

The pipeline will not be able to supply gas to more customers until infra­structure fixes are made, work that has no exact timetable.

"We're going to have to do some pretty significant infrastructure enhancement work," said National Grid spokesman Jake Navarro.

The work will prevent potential customers in Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Barnstable and Yarmouth from hooking up to the gas supply.

Navarro said National Grid has about 100,000 customers on the Cape, and was adding between 800 and 1,000 each year.

DPU spokeswoman Mary-Leah Assad said in a statement that the agency is looking into the situation.

"The DPU's Pipeline Safety & Engineering Division is engaged in an on­going investigation to determine the integrity of the gas main and ensure it is in compliance with federal and state regulations," she said.

National Grid does not believe any other pipelines in the state will need the same kind of repairs, Navarro said.

Meanwhile, Nstar yesterday filed for a 12 percent delivery rate increase, citing­ rising costs to deliver gas to homes. That comes after Nstar said it would increase its supply rates by 29 percent due to rising demand for natural gas.

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Fung Wah gets feds’ conditional approval

Nearly two years after shutting it down, federal regulators have given Boston-­based Fung Wah Bus Transportation conditional approval to resume carrying passengers, but authorities say they'll be watching to see if the company slips back into a pattern of safety violations and mismanagement.

"It is essential that all private bus companies operating on our local streets are properly permitted, are following current regulations and guidelines with regard to their business practices, and are picking up and dropping off passengers at locations approved by the city," said Kate Norton, spokeswoman for Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

Effective Dec. 11, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration authorized Fung Wah — known for its cheap fares to New York City — to resume operations, based on a negotiated safety management plan and the company's acceptance of five conditions: that it hire qualified managers responsible for safety and government compliance; that it limit service routes and trips during the first 60 days of operation; that it ensure all drivers are trained and tested, and install on-board devices to record their duty status; that it ensure — through training, monitoring and disciplinary action — that drivers do not exceed the speed limit; and that it agree to heightened monitoring by the FMCSA for four years.

In a statement yesterday, Fung Wah President Pei Lin Liang said: "We are working diligently to resume safe, effective and affordable passenger transportation service between New York and Boston. We are in the process of working with federal, state and local authorities to demonstrate that a new page has been turned."

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Utilities, which inspects buses on behalf of the FMCSA, said Fung Wah does not need DPU's authorization to operate.

The MBTA, which owns South Station, has not received a formal request from Fung Wah to resume operations there, spokeswoman Kelly Smith said.

In March 2013, the FMCSA­ shut down the bus company after it refused to turn over safety records. The agency subpoenaed the documents, which showed, among other things, falsified maintenance records and a failure to drug-screen drivers.

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Sony under attack from hackers and ex-employees

NEW YORK — Threats of violence against movie theaters. Cancelled showings of "The Interview." Leaks of thousands more private emails. Lawsuits by former employees that could cost tens of millions in damages.

The fallout from the hack that began four weeks ago exploded Tuesday after the shadowy group calling themselves Guardians of Peace escalated their attack beyond corporate espionage and threatened moviegoers with violence reminiscent of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Department of Homeland Security said there was "no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters," but noted it was still analyzing messages from the group, dubbed GOP. The warning did prompt law enforcement in New York and Los Angeles to address measures to ramp up security.

Those security fears spurred Sony to allow theater chains to cancel showings of the Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy "The Interview," that has been a focus of the hackers' mission to bring down Sony. Carmike Cinemas, which operates 247 theaters across the country, was the first to cancel its planned screenings of the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It remains to be seen if other chains will follow suit.

GOP also released a trove of data files including 32,000 emails to and from Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton in what it called the beginning of a "Christmas gift."

And two former Sony film production workers filed lawsuits alleging the Culver City, California company waited too long to notify nearly 50,000 employees that data such as Social Security numbers, salaries and medical records had been stolen.

The filing follows another lawsuit this week from two other former Sony employees accusing the studio of being negligent by not bolstering its defenses against hackers before the attack. It claims emails and other leaked information show that Sony's information-technology department and its top lawyer believed its security system was vulnerable to attack, but that company did not act on those warnings.

Sony, a unit of Japan's Sony Corp., potentially faces tens of millions of dollars in damages from class-action lawsuits, said Jonathan Handel, an entertainment law professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

"It is a serious matter for Sony both in terms of dollar exposure and public perception of the brand," he said.

In "The Interview," Rogen and Franco star as television journalists involved in a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Speculation about a North Korean link to the Sony hacking has centered on that country's angry denunciation of the film. Over the summer, North Korea warned that the film's release would be an "act of war that we will never tolerate." It said the U.S. will face "merciless" retaliation.

The film's New York premiere is scheduled for Thursday at Manhattan's Landmark Sunshine, and it is expected to hit theaters nationwide on Christmas Day. It premiered in Los Angeles last week.

But on Tuesday Rogen and Franco pulled out of all media appearances, canceling a Buzzfeed Q&A and Rogen's planned guest spot Thursday on "Late Night With Seth Meyers." A representative for Rogen said he had no comment. A spokeswoman for Franco didn't respond to queries Tuesday.

The FBI said it is aware of the GOP's threats and "continues to work collaboratively with our partners to investigate this matter." FBI director James Comey last week said that investigators are still trying to determine who is responsible for the hack.

The New York Police Department, after coordinating with the FBI and Sony, plans to beef up security at the Manhattan premiere, said John Miller, the NYPD's top counterterrorism official.

"Having read through the threat material myself, it's actually not crystal clear whether it's a cyber response that they are threatening or whether it's a physical attack," Miller said. "That's why we're continuing to evaluate the language of it, and also the source of it. I think our primary posture is going to be is going to have a police presence and a response capability that will reassure people who may have heard about this and have concerns."

Following a commission meeting earlier Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said his department takes the hackers' threats "very seriously" and will be taking extra precautions during the holidays at theaters.

The National Association of Theatre Owners had no comment on the developing situation. Neither Sony nor representatives from individual theater chains, including Carmike, responded to requests for comment.

Since the hack surfaced late last month, everything from financial figures to salacious emails between top Sony executives has been dumped online.

The nearly 32,000 emails to and from Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Lynton leaked Tuesday include information about casting decisions and total costs for upcoming films, release schedules for Sony films through 2018 and corporate financial records, such as royalties from iTunes, Spotify and Pandora music services. They include information about new electronics devices such as DVD players and cell phones. They also include budget figures for the Motion Picture Association of America, of which Sony is a member, and at least one email about a senior Sony executive who left the company. The emails also include banal messages about public appearances, tennis matches, home repairs, dinner invitations and business introductions.

___

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington, D.C., Lindsey Bahr in Los Angeles, Jake Coyle and Tom Hays in New York and Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.

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McDonald's in Japan limits orders of fries

TOKYO — Only small fries with that? McDonald's in Japan has begun limiting the serving size of fries as stocks of spuds run short due to labor disruptions on the U.S. West Coast.

McDonald's began rationing its fries Wednesday morning. It said prolonged labor negotiations with port workers on the West Coast have made it difficult to meet demand despite an emergency airlift of 1,000 tons of spuds and an extra shipment from the U.S. East Coast by sea.

Frozen french fries — ready for the deep-fryer — are a leading U.S. export.

Japanese consume more than 300,000 tons of french fries a year, mostly at fast-food restaurants, and largely made from imports of frozen, processed potatoes from the U.S., according to U.S. figures. Shipments in December are expected to be just over half the normal level, Japanese newspapers reported.

But demand is rising as convenience stores are increasingly also selling fries.

Japan's locally grown potatoes are mostly eaten fresh, rather than as fries, and production has been declining for years. But Japan enforces strict limits on where and how fresh potatoes are imported.

The powerful dockworkers union and multinational shipping lines have been negotiating a new contract for about 20,000 West Coast workers. In the meantime, labor disruptions have slowed shipments and driven costs higher.

Although supermarkets have abundant supplies of most foods, Japanese already are facing a shortage of butter that has prompted grocery stores to limit shoppers to one or two packages apiece. That shortage stems from declining domestic production plus trade barriers and other restrictions that limit imports.

McDonald's has 3,100 outlets in Japan. It cut prices for set meals to compensate for including only small fries.

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Booting Up: Peer-to-peer lending arrives

Traditional banking is being challenged by new technology and the sharing economy. And this time, there is no bailout in sight.

We're in the early stages of a peer-to-peer lending revolution, bolstered by last week's spectacular Wall Street debut of Lending Club, an online marketplace for loans.

Though Lending Club has revenues of less than $150 million, it raised a whopping $800 million in its Initial Public Offering in what is the largest tech IPO of the year and the first ever for a peer-to-peer lender. This undoubtedly paves the way for more homegrown financing firms to go public. Lending Club processed more than $6 billion in loans this year, up from $4.8 million during its founding year in 2007.

The company nabbed a $9 billion valuation, higher than most U.S. banks. It's a giant nod from the investment community for its potential to disrupt the financial services industry — an even bigger shot across the bow of bank lending.

And it's about time. The only reason banks exist from a lending point of view is that they have traditionally been the one large type of institution that can float the risk of an individual loan.

But as an online, peer-to-peer lender, anyone can lend a little bit of money to lots of people. If you take one loan and divvy the risk up among 10,000 people, then that's a pretty good investment.

In fact, the rate of return on peer-to-peer loans can actually beat the market. That's because peer-to-peer lending usually involves an interesting group of borrowers: a self-selected group of technologically advanced people who are short on cash. So the likelihood of the borrower paying its lenders back actually ends up being pretty high.

Overall, it's a way better way to get money than by using a bank. Less concentrated power in institutions. Less corruption. Less Wall Street.

That doesn't man that Lending Club is full of new faces and startup innovators. Its board includes an ex-Morgan Stanley CEO and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

Though state regulations have kept peer-to-peer lenders out of about half the country, the IPO means Lending Club is governed by federal regulators and can operate anywhere. Execs have said they plan to use the money raised in the IPO to acquire other financial tech startups. Let's hope they leave competitors in place and not just turn into a peer-to-peer banking behemoth.

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The power and the danger of email! (just ask Sony execs!)

"COMMON sense is not so common," said Voltaire.

I KNOW I shouldn't be, but I continue to be astounded by what people at the highest levels of various business -- and just plain folks -- put into emails, on Facebook, iPhone, iCloud, Twitter, Instagram and whatever else is out there, making fools of so many.

I'm probably guilty of being too indiscreet at times in my own emails, but I can't imagine anybody mucking through my hard drive, or caring. Anyway, I still actually write notes, a lot of notes. And I make phone calls.

The latest computer hacking scandals, with movie executives calling Angelina Jolie a "minimally talented spoiled brat" and others making somewhat racist jokes about President Obama's taste in films, is amazing. Especially the latter. Not that these exchanges were so terrible, just people attempting to be "funny."

Does nobody think before pressing "send"? This is hardly the first hacking event, hardly the first time emails or photos have come back to bite movie actors and politicians in the backside. Not to mention all the regular people out there who have found intimate online conversations and picture exchanges made public and "gone viral."

Of course, sometimes these things are not accidents. Nobody can make me believe that the aide to a GOP congressman, who typed out a vicious Facebook rant about the daughters of President Obama, didn't know exactly what she was doing. That the remarks would get out, get big play and then be applauded by all those conservatives who irrationally loathe Obama boggles the mind. Her "apology" was a joke. She never mentioned the teenage girls she trashed. It was all about her prayer, and her parents and her regret. Her, her, her! Then she was fired. But I can't help feeling that is exactly what she wanted -- martyrdom. We'll see this person again, believe me.

EMBARASSED Hollywood execs will survive joking about Obama, especially with the president's popularity down.

Sony Picture's co-chairman, Amy Pascal, whose producer pal Scott Rudin trashed Angelina Jolie, actually has a bigger problem, although photos have surfaced of Pascal and Jolie embracing -- this after the "leak." In the pic, Jolie is staring blankly, with a slight grasp on Pascal. Amy has a firm two-armed grip on the star. Pascal's face is obscured, but you just know she's saying, "Angie, darling!"

The profits of Jolie's movies -- like those of all actors, even the biggest -- vary. But this actress remains probably the top female star in the world, still.

And it's not just Jolie. She and hubby Brad are a juggernaut, especially in certain types of films. Everybody wants a slice of that pie. And some people want to join in their philanthropies.

Bring back the postal service!

OH, and all the brouhaha over Sony's comedy "The Interview" about two idiots (James Franco and Seth Rogen) attempting to assassinate North Korea's Kim Jong-un, is well deserved.

What an appalling idea, no matter what kind of man or leader Kim is. Imagine if North Korea made a movie about assassinating an American president -- just for "fun." Nobody here would think it was very funny.

"IN HER EXQUISITE, almost painterly studies, in both individual portraits and in groups, Annie Leibovitz has produced an unparalleled portrait of the men and women who have driven the culture of the last half century," writes Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

This is just one of the quotes extolling Annie, and now for the gift for that person who thinks they have almost everything. "ANNIE'S BIG BOOK" comes for only $2,500 and is a collector's edition of No. 1,000 to 10,000 volumes of great photo after photo. (There is also an "Art Edition" for $5,000.) The promotion of this item from Taschen can be seen in their stores all over the world from Amsterdam to Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Hollywood, New York and Paris, of course. When you unfold the promo for this work of art with Whoopi Goldberg on the cover, barely exposing herself in a milk bath, you have to stretch both arms wide to look at it. (In addition to Whoopi, you can buy this very special book with Patti Smith, David Byrne or Keith Haring on the cover you select.)

I have been photographed by Annie myself, twice, but I'm betting I'm not in this work of art because everybody else is in it. And I don't know anybody who can afford to buy it. But there must be people simply itching to throw money around. And then they can pay extra for Marc Newson's specially designed tripod stand on which to display the book. Onward and upward with the arts!

SPEAKING OF spending money, I love it that almost every one of my Christmas cards so far is of famous people's children. I even heard from the controversial screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who helped make a star out of Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct," went so far as to threaten the Hollywood agent Michael Eisner, got off drug and eventually moved with the woman he loved (Naomi) to an aptly named Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and got religion. He quotes Mother Teresa in his card ("It is Christmas every time you smile at your brother and offer him your hand") and his boys Joe, Nick, John Law and Luke are movie star handsome themselves.

And just to keep our standards up here, how about the card and photo from Audrey and Martin Gruss, who I usually associate with Palm Beach. Their card shows them posing with a 1936 Bugatti Type 57 in front of Hampton Court Palace in London. (And Palm Beach natives used to say this marriage would "never last." I guess the Gruss family and the Bugatti showed them!)

I RECEIVED one of those "nostalgia" letters this week from Jim Mitchell, who, in his and my heyday, used to visit El Morocco every night -- he to "work" and me to look on. He expresses sadness over the death of former fashion designer and good guy, Luis Estevez, a friend of ours for over 50 years. Jim writes: "I arranged a party for Luis and his wife, Betty, to give at Le Bijou on West 4th Street in New York. It was to celebrate Vivien Leigh and Jean-Pierre Aumont, who were starring in "Tovarich" on Broadway.

At the supper party none other than Greta Garbo appeared, as well as Rock Hudson, George Hamilton, Arlene Dahl and Jerome Zipkin, who later scored as a friend of the Reagans. I just invited people and they came. I didn't know what I was doing in those days, as you told it in your memoir; we were both just having a ball observing the rich and famous at play. When word got around that Garbo and Rock were in Le Bijou, 1,000 people gathered outside the restaurant. There were lots of police on call. It was madness. But fun. And, p.s., Dolores Sherwood Guinle Littman Ruspoli Bosshard died this week in Palm Beach. Her ashes are being buried at Trinity Church in Manhattan on January 17. -- Too much sadness. I am going to start having a good time again this very night. You do too!"

YOU CAN plan to join the gang New Year's Eve at Barbetta, which has been operating on West 46th Street since 1906. Ballroom dancing to the Felix Swing Band, multicourse dinner, black tie suggested, white tie would be divine! Call 212-246-9171, or email barbetta100yrs(at)aol.com. Only $185 for a night to remember! Sorry I won't be there, I'll be having fun in the sun somewhere.

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Hackers to Sony: ‘Christmas gift’ to be the worst

Sony hackers have promised to release a disastrous "Christmas gift" that will "put Sony Pictures into the worst state" — another round of embarrassing personal emails, according to multiple news reports.

One of the emails allegedly ridicules Leonardo DiCaprio for passing on an upcoming Steve Jobs biopic.

"Was this about the deal ... or did he just change his mind," movie producer Mark Gordon said in a leaked email, which was published online yesterday. "The latter," responded Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal, reports state.

The Sony hack, which was first reported last month, has not only revealed thousands of private emails sent by top executives, it also made thousands of employee Social Security numbers public and leaked five new Sony films, including the "Annie" remake, Brad Pitt's "Fury," and "Still Alice" to online file-sharing hubs.

In one of the leaked messages, Oscar-winning movie producer Scott Rudin reportedly called Angelina Jolie a "minimally talented spoiled brat," according to multiple reports.

But it looks like the worst is yet to come — "We are preparing for you a Christmas gift," reads a message from the hackers that was posted online yesterday, according to Variety. "The gift will be larger quantities of data. And it will be more interesting. The gift will surely give you much more pleasure and put Sony Pictures into the worst state."

Evidence is mounting that North Korea, outraged over the upcoming comedy "The Interview," may have launched the cyber attack.

The comedy is about a pair of hack TV journalists — played by Seth Rogen and co-star James Franco — who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un after they land an interview with the North Korean leader.

North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA declared the film an "act of war" and promised "a merciless counter-measure" if the U.S. allowed it to be distributed.

"The Interview" is set to be released in theaters Christmas Day.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Drug companiess to lose $65 billion on patents

Pharmaceutical companies will lose an estimated $65 billion in sales by 2019 due to patent expirations of leading drugs, according to one research and consulting firm.

The companies that will likely be hardest hit include Otsuka, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, which has a research and development center in Waltham, according GlobalData.

Eli Lilly and AstraZemeca have seen profits fall in the central nervous system therapeutics market since 2010, with AstraZeneca losing the greatest share over the past three years, said Adam Dion, a GlobalData analyst covering healthcare industry dynamics.

AstraZeneca "has been bleeding sales" in that market since it lost its patent on Seroquel, a treatment for bipolar disorder, which led to the entry of cheaper, generic alternatives, Dion said.

The company's market share has dropped from about 9 percent in 2010 to about 3 percent last year, he said.

"In the United States, when a patent expires on a small-molecule drug, the generics can be many, and you can lose 90 percent of your revenues or more," said Seamus Fernandez, a Leerink Partners analyst. "That kind of competition decreases the sustainability of your revenue stream."

Eli Lilly's market share fell from 14.3 percent in 2010 to 11.2 percent in 2013, primarily due to decreasing sales of Zyprexa, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Dion said. Zyprexa sales have plunged from more than 
$5 billion to $1.2 billion since the company lost its U.S. patent exclusivity in 2011, he said.

Otsuka's anti-psychotic drug Abilify was the sales leader in the central nervous system market, with $9.5 billion last year, Dion said. But the company stands to lose $6.2 billion by 2019 as a result of generic competition after Abilify's U.S. patent expires next year, "making it the biggest victim of the pharmaceutical industry's current patent cliff," he said.

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